Oslo-listed Hoegh LNG Holdings has completed two bond taps worth NOK 320m ($34.72m) as it looks to extend debt maturity.
Early on Monday, the owner of LNG carriers and regasification ships sold NOK 161m of its NOK 650m HLNG04 bond series to a single investor in its NOK 1.5bn HLNG03 issue maturing in 2022.
The company then followed this up by the end of the day with another sale to other holders of the HLNG03 bond to hit the NOK 320m total.
The tapped bonds mature in January 2025.
The deals were priced at 93.61% of par value and the total outstanding amount after the tap issue is now NOK 970m.
In conjunction with the tap, the company has bought back NOK 295m of the 2022 tranche at 100% of par value.
Debt maturity stretched out
Norwegian investment bank Fearnley Securities said that in effect Hoegh LNG is stretching out its debt maturity profile to reduce refinancing risk in the shorter term, "albeit there is still NOK 970m left in HLNG03 maturing in early 2022".
"With NOK 330m remaining of tap potential on HLNG04, this amount could be reduced further to NOK 640m," Fearnley added.
"We expect HLNG to hold cash of circa $125m by the end of the third quarter, with another $20m through a revolving credit facility."
The investment bank is forecasting Ebitda of $114m for Hoegh LNG in 2020, compared to debt service of around $130m and maintenance costs of $10m.
Hoegh LNG chief executive Sveinung Stohle told TradeWinds on Monday: "As we have done before, we are refinancing way ahead of maturity when the bond market is open and right now it is open."
Danske Bank, Nordea and Swedbank arranged the second tap.
The HLNG04 tranche was sold in January this year at three-month Nibor plus 600 basis points. It was significantly oversubscribed at that point, the company said.
